Railway hand brake



' Sept. 27, 1932. R. w. BURNETT 1,879,972,

RAILWAY HAND BRAKE Filed Oct. 24, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 p 27, 1932- R.w. BURNETT 1,879,972

RAILWAY HAND BRAKE Filed Oct. 24; 1927 3-Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 27, 1932.R. w. BURNETT RAILWAY HAND BRAKE Filed Oct. 24 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 I A\[I\" Z//////////////l/Il////I/ Patented Sept. 27,- 1932 RICHARD W.BURNETT, OF CHICAGO, ITILINOIS RAILWAY HAND BRAKE Application filedOctober 24, 1927. 'Serial No. 228,308.

My invention. relates to a manually operated brake apparatus for railwaycars and the principal object of the invention is to provide a simpleand effective mechanism whereby the brakes of the car may be held in setposition and released instantaneously and without reverse movement ofthe wheel or other element used for setting the brakes.

A further object is to so construct the releasing mechanism that thebrake shoes may be either completely released from the wheels of the caror the pressure thereof relieved to a greater or less extent as may bedesirable in switching cars and making up trains, in

hump yards for example.

tion in view, the invention provides means whereby the brakeman, wit-h aminimum of danger to life and limb, may control the movement of the carby increasing or decreasing the pressures of the shoes on the wheels asmay be necessary in order to bring the car gently and without violentcollision against the car to which it is to be coupled in making up thetrain. Violent collisions between cars in the making up of trains,especially where the cars being handled glide down inclines, by gravity,have resulted very frequently in injury or death to brakemen and havealso been the cause of great damage to cars and their contents due ftoimpacts of the cars against each other and the shifting of their cargoesresulting from such impacts.

With this opera- The present invention provides a new and.

improved hand brake apparatus having a hand wheel, or othermanipulatable device, which the brakeman operates with one hand forcreating the necessary pressure between the brake shoes and wheels ofthe car, and a lever, or like device, arranged near the 4 hand wheelwhich can be operated with the same hand to relieve such pressurewithout any reverse movement of the hand wheel, the brakeman all thetimebeing able to maintain with his other hand an uninterrupted hold on somefixed structure on the car.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings as formingpart of a hand brake apparatus comprising a bellcrank arranged near,preferably under the floor of the car, a chain or other flexibleconnection between the bellcrank and said brake rigging, asubstantially. vertical rod foroscillating the bellcrank, a chainattached to the upper'end of said rod and a drum on which the chain iswound; such combination of parts being disclosed in my copendingapplication for hand brake mechanism filed May 14, 1926, Serial No.109,061. The present invention, however, is not limited to thisparticular type of hand brake, which is shown herein merely forillustrative purposes, but is applicable to any hand brake apparatusutilizing a winding drum.

In the specification and claims the term brake rigging is intended tocover, as a whole, the apparatus under the flooring of the car formoving the brake shoes to and from the wheels of the car, this apparatusbeing ordinarily operated by air pressure. By the term chain I intendedto cover any flexible connection capable of being wound on a drum. K

The invention is illustrated in a preferred embodiment in theaccompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation,with parts in section, of a. railway box car provided with the handbrake of my present invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the mechanism, except for thehand wheel, employed for setting and releasing the brakes, this sectionbeing taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 4 but with the scale enlarged.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing the two manipulatable operatingmembers ofi' the brake apparatus with the housing for the gears, drum,et cetera, in the background.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view through the housing and its enclosedmechanisms taken on a plane parallel to the end of the car. Fig. 5 is afragmentary sectional view on line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a detailed sectional view of a portion of the winding drum andassociated parts of the mechanism, showing a modified construction.

Fig. 7 is a view in perspective of the sleeve employed for releasingtheclutch between the winding drum and setting mechanism, and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the manipulatable brakereleasing member. I a I Referring to the drawings, 10. designates .theside wall, 11 the end wall, and 12 the flooring of a railway box car.The brake rigging,

using that term as heretofore defined, is connected, for manualoperation thereof, by

- means of a chain 13 to a bell-crank 14, pivoted designated 33',

at 15'to the under side of the car and formed with an operating arm 16,to which is connected a substantially vertical rod 17,.th1s

connection beingpreferably formed by a pin 18 extending through anelongated slot 19 in the operating arm. Attached to the upper end of therod 17 is a chain 20 which is adapted .to be wound on a drum 21. Thedrum is preferably eccentric forth'e purpose indicated in the co endingapplication above referred to but my present invention is not concernedwith this feature of the apparatus. The drum may be of any suitablecontour.

The drum isarranged in a housing on the drum 21 and sleeve 27. The gearwheel is formed near its perimeter with a recessed friction surface 31against which is seated a radially severed clutch'ring 32. Secured tothe friction ring 32 are a suitable number of struts designated 33, twobeing shown, these struts being pivoted'(Fig. 2) to a drum by pins 34;or the ends of the struts, in this case being merely seated (Fig. 6) inrecesses 34" in the drum. In either case slight movement of the drum inthe direction toward the end of the car (to the right, Figs. 2 and ,6)will bring about a clutched engagement between the drum 21 and gearwheel 26. This clutched relationship is maintained normally by means ofa heavy coiled'spring which intervenes between a Wearplate 36 on thefront housing member 23 and a collar 37 which is screwed on the end ofthe sleeve 27. The sleeve 27 projects through the front wall of thecasing and is provided with anobliquely arranged head. A lever 39,normally under stress of a coiled spring 39 andhaving an operatinghandle 40, is pivoted to the front wall of the casing by means of ashouldered and riveted. stud 41. The lever 39 has a wedge shaped portion42 adapted to intervene between the oblique head 38 of sleeve 27 and thefront wall of the casing, this portion of the lever being formed with aslot 43 through which the sleeve 27 projects and with a curved rib 44 toengage one edge of the head. By raising the lever, (see Fig. 3) spring35 is compressed so as to release the hold between friction ring 32 andthe friction surface 31 of the gear wheel.- This permits the pressure ofthe brake shoes against the Wheels of the car to be relieved, eithercompletely or partially, and either instantaneously or gradually.

Meshing with gear 26 is agear 45 formed on the shaft 46 of a hand wheel47, shaft 46 turning in bearings 48, preferably with the interpositionof bronze bushings 49, in the front and back housing members 22, 23. Onshaft 46 is a ratchet wheel 5 0engaged by. a detent 51 pivotally mountedon a shaft 52 extending across the upper end of the housing, the ends ofwhich are shouldered and riveted to the housing members. Preferably acoiled spring 53 is arranged between the upper flange 54 of housingmember 23 and the nose of-the detent, which latter is formed withajcentering stud 5.5 for the spring.

Preferably a platform 56 for the brakeman is secured to the end wall ofthe car 11 at a suitable distance below the housing 22-23.

Operation-The brakeman, standing on platform 56, sets the brakes byrotating the hand wheel 47 in the clockwise direction using his righthand. The friction of the parts of the apparatus is so small that theslack in the brake apparatus, including the necessary slack in the brakerigging under the car, may be taken up and the brake shoes brou htagainst the wheels of the car with 'consi erable pressure by the initialoperation of the hand wheel. If additional pressure is required a newhold may be taken on the wheel,

either at the rim or one of its spokes. During this operation thebrakeman can steady himself by taking hold with his left hand of one ofthe adjacent rungs of the end ladder with which most box cars areprovided or of the roof hand hold, or, in case of gondola cars, of theupper edge of the car end. To release the brakes the brakeman,maintaining his left or the like, raises lever 39 by grasping its handle40 with his right hand. A quick pull up on the lever willinstantaneously bring about the release of all pressure of the shoes onthe wheels of the car but if a gradual or partial release is desired thelever may be raised just sufficiently to permit a slip between theclutch ring 32 and the friction surface 31 of band hold on the endladder rung hand hold gearwheel 26; The hand wheel remains 'stationary,being efl'ectively dogged by the engagement of detent 51 with theratchet wheel 50. If control of the car requires increase ofpressure,the hand wheel may be turned to a greater or less extent, andthus by this easy and safe manipulation of thewheel 47 and the lever 39the velocity of the car may be accurately controlled. At all times thebrakeman maintains his left-hand hold on a fixed partof the car. Thebrake is a one hand brake. The left hand need not be used in any .partof the operation of the brake.

' It is realized that the brake apparatus herein shown and described maybe changed considerably without departure fr m the scope of theinvention. Therefore I Wish it to be understood that the inventionincludes all modificationswithin the language of the appended claims.

, 109,061, filed May The winding mechanism and vertical wheel.

in combination. with the bellcrank; the housing construction; thebellcrank construction; and the configuration of the winding drum arenot claimed herein apart from the other arrangements and constructionsherein shown and'claimed. The said general combination of windingmechanism and bellcrank and the other improved constructions above notedare claimed in the order above named in my copending applications asfollows: Serial Nos. 14, 1926 and 349,817, filed March 25, 1929;329,243, filed December 29, 1928; 560,407, filed August 31, 1931; and349,818, filed March 25, T929. 4 a

I claim:

1. In combination with the brake rigging of a railway car, means forsetting the brakes comprisinga chain, :a drum on which the chain iswound,.a shaft on which the drum is slidably mounted, mechanism forrotating the drum in the direction to set the brakes comprising arevoluble element and detent means for the same, a friction ring bearingagainst said revoluble element and struts extending from said drum tosaid ring providing a clutch between said drum and revoluble element,and mechanism for moving said drum lengthwise of the shaft for controlling the operation of the clutch.

2. In combination with the brake rigging of a railway car, means forsetting the brakes comprising a chain, a drum on which the chain iswound, a shaft on which the drum is slidably mounted, mechanism forrotating the drum in the direction to set the brakes comprising arevoluble element and detent. means for the same, and a clutch betweensaid drum and revoluble element comprising a friction ring bearingagainst the revoluble element, struts extending from the drum to thering, a spring bearing against the drum to normally maintain engagementbetween the ring and revoluble element, a sleeveon is slidably mounted,a gear on said shaft, a

clutch interposed between the drum and gear, a spring normallymaintaining the clutch in operative engagement with the drum and gear,means for compressing the spring to release the gear, a hand wheelhaving a shaft parallel to the drum shaft, a gear on the hand wheelshaft meshing with the gear on the drum shaft, a ratchet on the handwheel shaft, and a detent to engage said ratchet.

4. In combination with the brake rigging of a railway car, means forsetting the brakes comprising a chain, a drum on which the chain iswound, a shaft on which said drum is slidably mounted, a gear on saidshaft, a

clutch interposed between the drum and gear, I

aspring normally maintaining the clutch in operative engagement with thedrum and gear, means including a lever for compressing the spring torelease the gear, a hand wheel parallel with the lever having a shaftparallel to the drum shaft, a gear on the hand wheel shaft meshing withthe gear on the drum shaft, a ratchet on the hand wheel shaft, and adetent to engage said ratchet.

5. In combination with the brake rigging of a railway car, a chain formoving the same to'set the brakes a bell-crank to which the chain isattached, a substantially vertical rod for rocking thebell-crank, achain on said rod, a vertically disposed housing on the end of the car,a vertically disposed hand wheel having a shaft extending through theupper portion of the housing, a ratchet wheel and a gear on said shaft,a detent to engage the ratchet wheel, a fixed shaft extending throughthe lower part of the housing, a gear revoluble on said lower shaftmeshed with the gear on the hand wheel shaft, a drum slidable on saidlower shaft on which said second named chain is adapted to be wound, aclutch interposed between. said drum and the gear on the lower shaft,and a lever pivoted to the end of the housing for controlling revolubleon said lower shaft meshed with the gear on the hand wheel shaft, a drumslidable on said lower shaft on which said second named chain is adaptedto be wound, a clutch interposed between said drum and the gear on thelower shaft, a sleeve on said lower shaft provided with a collar, aspring bearing against said collar to normally maintain the clutch inits engaging position, a head on the outer end of the sleeve, and acontrolling lever pivoted to the casing having a wedge adapted to bearagainst said head to impart longitudinal movement to the sleeve in'thedirection to compress said spring and release the clutch.

- RICHARD W. BURNETT.

